Wednesday, September 26, 2012

The word legendary is thrown around a lot these days and probably used by many (including myself) for people and places that were not always involved in fantastical scenarios that have been come to be known as legends. Last week's guest DJ at our weekly Wednesday Good Times party at Eastern Bloc is undoubtedly legendary. His name is Bobby Viteritti and he was the resident DJ at San Francisco's Trocadero Transfer in its heyday from 1978 until 1981. And he is awesome.

It took a little while for me and Mr. Viteritti to nail down a DJ date for him but boy was I glad to have him. He showed up early (in a Trocadero Transfer tshirt no less!), hung with me in the booth and then played the most awesome disco set EVER.

Hugs not drugs.

My favorite person on earth, Armando, came out to party and called people out with his trademarked catchphrase, "that's abnormal."

Since I didn't get out to Fire Island very much this summer, I missed out on seeing my favorite Peruvian Ruso (right), who is as lovely as ever and already double layering up his look the coming autumn and winter.

Gerardo held court from a bar stool, swigging his beer and singing along to my disco classics set.

We were once again sans photographer so I took on triple duties of DJ, host and photographer yet again. This and the following two photos comprise of my pensive partying portraiture set.

I always opt for the smiley photos over the nonsmiley ones because, duh, the party is called Good Times and no one wants to see frowny faces at a super fun par-taaaay.

I know that that Navajo print is on its last legs but coupled with that leather strap, sexy beard and handsome chin line, he's hard to resist.

Since I had vowed to stay sober (and that lasted till, oh, about 1215am), I was too shy to approach this sexy daddy and ask for a photo, instead opting to admire from the sidelines and pretend he was a tourist who didn't speak any English anyways.

At one point, I pawned off our Good Times camera to a party goer, who reminded me that I don't showcase Eastern Bloc's interiors too often or the videos that play throughout our party, which are usually vintage porn but apparently last week, someone got a hold of that scary video from The Ring and swapped it in instead. (And then Keisha crawled out of the screen and spooked us.)

Every time Martyn Boddy turns up at a Good Times party, I just wanna start singing Queen Latifah's Come Into My House so I can yell GIVE ME BODDDDDDDY over and over again.

Who knew that Fritz and Marwin knew one another? Or that Marwin was camped out literally one block away from me at Burning Man for an entire week in August and yet I didn't run into him once.

So many things to say yes to in this here pic, one of which is that handsome bearded fella in the background who is almost upstaging Kevin (right) and his hunky friend. Almost.

As Rihanna would say in one of her songs that isn't crap like that new Diamonds track that came out today, I'LL DRINK TO THAAAAAAAAAAAT (yeah yeah, yeah yeah x 1,000,000).

The adorable Rif, giving a Classic Concentration throwback with his shirt, which I'm reading as, ummm, I'll pick whoever I want to love?

So two Jews and a Peruvian walk into a bar...and then they start mourning the passing of Lina Bradford's beloved pooch Couture. Please take a moment to stop and send love to Couture, who is back on Planet Ishla now with Kiko and his other sibling doing things doggystyle.

Andre on Andre action, from New York to SF and back again.

We're predicting that black mesh is the look of this coming season, but don't take our word for it. Check out this dreamy backpack that is ideal for carrying all your necessities (except dildos, anal douches and such. Unless you live in Chelsea, in which case nobody would bat an eyelash).

More smiley Good Times thanks to Eliot (left, who will most likely complain about this photo but I find it rather charming. Hope you're coming to the next Good Times with London's Fil OK on Wednesday to break your Yom Kippur fast with us) and friend.

Extreme close up! But I'm going with it thanks to his charming smile and (literal) pearl necklace.

Did I mention it was really crowded? And everyone was living for Bobby's disco dance set. I tried recording it but of course the levels were off, which simply means we'll be having Bobby back one Wednesday very very soon.

Glad to see guys are still getting play at Good Times as well, even if that play is only worth 25 cents for two minutes.

Ummmmm, when did this happen at Eastern Bloc? Did Ted Nugent sneak in one night and redecorate is or hits summer weird memorial to the victims of the Dark Knight shooting? Gun control now!

Between the sweaters and the sweaty arms of our Wednesday club goers, someone spied a silver fox sitting at the bar.

Really excited to announce that for the first time in forever, we're having a lady DJ join us on October 10th and that lady DJ is the famous and infamous Lauren Flax, sometimes known for her production duo Creep as well as for traveling the world from her home base in Brooklyn and spreading good music everywhere.

What does he have to do to get a drink around here? I mean really.

I appreciated Andre's uncompromising desire to avoid the camera at all costs. I also appreciated him telling me that he's "not on the Facebook." Sorry Facebook stalkers! You're gonna have to go to San Francisco or Battery Park City and hunt this one down yourself.

DOUBLE TROUBLE.

A moment of solitude in the midst of all the choas and kiki-ing that was going on by 1 or 2am. We lost track easily.

Bobby Viteritti was all nervous when he arrived that his Serato would crash and I was all nervous that it wouldn't fill up or people would come and harass him for One Direction or something. We were both wrong though, as everyone really got into it and I didn't really want the music to stop when Bobby was done DJing.

I promise that Eliot's friend was quite the handsome man as well. He just got a little camera shy.

Patience is a virtue.

Lovely ladies and a cute and cuddly photobomb but last Wednesday's barman (and number one Britney fan) Rob.

Once again, Xander turned heads and turned me with his Adidas onesie look. Later on, he confessed that it had been his birthday and that he rarely shares his birthday with anyone but it had been a very special night for him and Good Times was a large part of that. WE LOVE YOU XANDER!

I can die and go to heaven now. Or I can stick around and hope that these two come out and party with us next Wednesday.

Santi (right) and Jeff not only hammed it up for my camera, they also told me about their Glammy Award nominations and how there's been a bit of drama in the photo nomination category of late. Kee KEE.

Get into that armpit Santi because the manager at my rinky dink Lower East Side gym told me again this week that customers had been complaining about my Sparber scent (though don't hold your breath for any radical deodorant developments any time soon. Or maybe you should hold your breath).

WE LOVE YOU BOBBY! Long live disco, long live the Trocadero and long live Bobby Viteritti. Hope to see you again and have you back real soon.

This one confessed to both Bobby and I that he was an old school disco head and that he was living for the music.

With barman Darren out at Folsom, we had the lovely Rob (left) and Sam tending bar and dishing on nightlife gossip that we're not allowed to publish because its just too juicy.

Shortly before SF Andre (left) took New York Andre (right) home for some much needed rest and relaxation and late night Nino's pizza.

He was so into my late-night set that he offered up his iPod for me to listen to an electro track that he thought would fit perfectly into my set. (I told him I don't play iPods but thanks!)

Edwin is the only child I can close out a night with and so I did, though I don't remember if it was Bicep and Ejeca again. Thanks to Bobby Viteritti and everyone who came out Wednesday. See you next week when Nag Nag Nag's Fil Ok brings his British invasion back to Good Times. xo, Sparber

Monday, September 24, 2012

Random assortment of things I've been listening to. The Bicep 12" is by far the best, followed by Patti Smith's Banga which I was late to the game with. I was pleasantly surprised by a number of tracks on the new Muse album, which I'm digging way more than anything they've put out since Absolution. And then that Omar S. 12". I'm pretty much in love with Omar S.'s productions but this 12" ain't blowing me away just yet.

I had my SSION concert experience last Thursday at Santos' Party House and wrote it up over here for everyone's favorite gay NYC rag, Next Magazine. Frontman Cody Critcheloe was a little late in responding to my questions for the article so I present to you the full Q & A with America's mustachioed man of the moment.

Last night's concert was a record release party? Or re-release party? I'm confused.

I'm calling it a deluxe-release party because of the bonus tracks and
remixes added to the original 10 songs that I gave away for free via the SSION website last year. So it's more like Bent: Reloaded or something. Bent Bloated sounds even better.

Tell me about your experience making this record.

I made Bent with a bunch of different producers and it was a
nightmare. Writing the songs was the best part but getting the
production right was really hard because I had a singular idea of the
kind of pop record I wanted to make. I'm really glad I got [the record] out of
my system.

And now you're headed out on tour? Where to?

It's a full North American tour with some stops in Canada. I've never done a tour this long (30+ dates) but I'm ready for it. I love touring and playing live every night more than anything. I told my booking agent I didn't want a day off.

How did you end up choosing to bring along House of Ladosha?

House of Ladosha is one of my favorite groups right now and I wanted to have fun on tour. I finally had a chance to pick the opening act and they were my first choice. With those girls on board, it's gonna be a full-proof mess. I can't wait to play some really small midwestern shows and really fuck shit up. I'm also bringing a friend along to film the entire tour, so get ready.

You brought in quite the crowd. What do you attribute to your success? How much has YouTube factored into it?

I write good songs and I love performing live. On top of that, I've been
doing this for a long time. The videos create a lot of excitement
about SSION. They create a much bigger illusion and then it comes true. I'm really thankful so many people showed up. I'm always surprised. I
usually think no one is gonna come.

What did you think of tonight's show, from the energy to the looks of the concert goers to your stage diving experience?

It got me really pumped for the tour. I wanna become a better
performer. I want people to fucking loose their shit. The live SSION experience should feel
like the floor is caving in. And it needs to be loud. I wish it would
have been louder. It should hurt.

Who were those muscle hunk go-go dancers? And do you ever worry about
Alexis Penney stealing the spotlight from you at your live shows?

Richard kennedy and Ryan lawrence are the dancers. And Alexis is a star! I
love having them perform with me. Once I'm on stage, I don't really worry
about anything. I'm just a vessel for the music. People are gonna
look at what they wanna look at. I'm just there to instigate. That's my
job.

You seem to create music, videos and stunning live performances nonstop. What keeps you going?

I really really love doing it more than anything else and I suck at anything that isn't SSION so I don't really have a choice.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Today, Shakira's baby daddy Gerard Pique is twerking me. Apparently he is a 25 year old Spanish footballer from the Catalan region, which is making me yearn for another trip back to Espana and a few football lessons to boot.